Highlights
by Utan Sonar
Summary: This is going to be a collection of short stories. I'll try to write about a variety of characters, not just the Straw hat Pirates. Story lengths and genres vary.
1. Surprise: Usopp

**Surprise**

"Once upon a time there was a Brave Sniper. He was known throughout the world. All of his 8000 subordinates held him in great respect. The Brave Sniper spent all his days slaying dragons and rescuing beautiful maidens. It was certainly no wonder that everyone practically adored him. In fact, they adored him so much that they thought the ground he was standing on was holy. Yes, the Brave Sniper was just like an angel descended from heaven. One day the people read from the paper that a horrendous natural disaster would be coming. 'How horrible, what are we going to do?', they all wailed in desperation. Then the Brave Sniper jumped up, blurted out: 'I'll take care of that stupid disaster!' and ran like the wind, fearless, towards the danger, staring death in the eye... And all the people yelled: 'No, Brave Sniper, come back, you can't sacrifice yourself, you're too valuable to us..."

"What are you mumbling about, Usopp?"

Usopp lifted his gaze from his screwdriver, which he had twirled around absently already for a minute, and saw his captain's curious face right in front of him. Realizing he was back in the reality, he frowned, shifted his gaze back to the grassy deck and started to twirl the screwdriver once again.

"Come on, what is it?" Luffy pressed on, as he was never one to give up.

Usopp looked sour. "... My birthday was ages ago, and none of you even noticed", he said finally. "So I'm making up my own story where I'm appreciated like I should be...-"

"What are you talking about, dummy?", said Nami, who had just come from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. "We haven't forgotten your birthday!"

"That's right!", said Sanji's voice from inside the kitchen. "Sorry it took so long, but you don't do a cake like this in just a few days!", he said, coming out of the kitchen door which Nami held open and carrying the biggest cake that Usopp had ever seen. He inhaled sharply. On top of the cake was a huge decorative slingshot. "Ta-dah!" Sanji grinned broadly.

"You... didn't forget...?", Usopp could barely say.

"Of course we didn't!" Luffy laughed, as if that would've been the most obvious thing in the world. "We just wanted to surprise you!"

At that moment Usopp looked at all of his crewmates around him who were all smiling at him, and broke into a smile himself; in moments like these he realized that _they _were the real presents. In moments like these he realized that he didn't want to be the Brave Sniper or even Sogeking. He was happy being just Usopp.


	2. Nightmares: Robin

**Nightmares**

_"Who is this kid?"_

_"My sister's daughter... Will you let her live here? You know that Olvia's gone and Robin doesn't have any other place to go to..."_

_"And you still took her in without asking me?"_

_"Well, I didn't have a choice..."_

_"Jeez... She's going to be just a burden, for sure! We have our own daughter too!"_

_"Well, I don't think Robin is going to be any more of a bother than she is..."_

_"Are you comparing her to that kid?"_

_"O-of course not..."_

The next thing Robin heard was her own startled gasp as she opened her eyes. She panted, looking at the murky ceiling of her and Nami's bedroom. Robin had seen a dream of her childhood again. For some reason there were always the same words, always the same two people arguing and talking about... her. Robin closed her eyes. Why did those memories always keep haunting her? She would've slept a lot more better if the fear that she would see horror-like pictures of her past again wouldn't bother her all the time. She couldn't help but fear them. She couldn't help but believe every word that were said in those dreams. Like she would've been ten years old again, believing that she was always in someone's way or someone's burden. And that everything was her fault. Robin turned on her side under the covers and saw Nami in the bed next to hers. Even through the murkiness she saw that the navigator was sleeping soundly, one hand under the pillow, breathing softly. Robin allowed the sound to lull her back to sleep.

"FOOD!"

"Wait, idiot! It's not ready yet!"

Robin woke up with a start to some strange sizzling noise. Light flooded in through the windows and Nami's bed was empty. Robin got up from the bed slowly and shook her head. How did they always manage to be so noisy so early in the morning? She changed clothes and made her way to the kitchen, where she assumed everyone to be.

Almost immediately after she opened the kitchen door, she heard Sanji's delighted voice.

"Ohh, Robin-chwan, good morning! You woke up just in time for breakfast!", he said, lovesick as always. Robin, appreciating this familiar gesture after her night, smiled genuinely back.

"Morning to everyone", she greeted, and her crewmates greeted her back in unison. "What happened to the captain?" She had noticed Luffy, who was sitting on the floor next to Sanji's feet, blowing frantically on his fingers which were swollen and gleaming red.

"Ah, that moron just slammed his hand on the burning hot pan. Thought the food was ready", Sanji said indifferently.

"But it already looked like it was ready!", Luffy whined from the floor.

"That doesn't mean anything!", Sanji shot back and put his foot on top of Luffy's head. "And don't ever do that again! What if your crappy rubber bacteria get into the ladies' foods?"

Luffy muttered something incoherent as Robin sat next to Nami.

"You slept longer than usual", Nami noted. "Is everything all right?"

"Yes, yes", Robin answered, still smiling. "You don't have to be worried about me anymore."

Nami looked at Robin suspiciously for a while, but then she smiled, extended her hand and said briskly; "Pass the salad, please."

The dream haunted Robin that whole day. She didn't know what she should do about them. She didn't want to see them anymore, she was sure about that. She knew that she had told Nami she was alright, but... She just didn't want to bother her crewmates any more than she had to. And the problem was just about _dreams. _That wasn't any reason to unnerve the others.

While sitting in the aquarium and talking with Nami, she tried not to think about the dreams.

While watching Franky work with Usopp, she tried not to think about the dreams.

While reading her book in the crow's nest where Zoro was training at the same time, she tried not to think about the dreams.

While going to see Chopper in the afternoon and completely startling him by suddenly opening the door, she tried not to think about the dreams.

Even while helping Sanji pick up the used plates from the dinner table (even though he said she didn't need to help at all), she tried not to think about the dreams.

When the sun started to set, Robin was still sitting out on the deck, trying to read her book and battling with her dreams. What was wrong with her? They were just dreams! Just dreams!

_Or were they?, _a small voice inside her head said.

No, they weren't just any dreams. They were things that had really happened to Robin, things she had really lived through. And she didn't want to live through those same things again. Her eyes didn't see the words in the book. She read the same sentences over and over again without understanding anything.

_"Stupid kid! Don't just bawl there!"_

_"There she goes! Get her!"_

_"Why are you running away? You don't have any hope! You don't have anyone who'd want to take you!"_

_"You don't have hope anymore, Nico Robin!"_

Robin shook her head and tried, with all her might, to get her thoughts in order, but tears were already rolling down her cheeks.

_"She's just a burden!"_

"No, stop...", Robin muttered in despair, her hands covering her ears.

_"Just a burden!"_

_A burden..._

Robin crumpled against the table, her hands tangled in her hair, trying to silence the voices. _Stop it already!_

Suddenly she heard an entirely different sound. Music... Violin, to be exact. Slowly, she lifted her head and looked to the direction of the sound.

Brook was standing next to the railing. He was playing Binks Sake like he was expected to, humming softly along with the song. The sun had almost gone under the horizon, making the sight somewhat beautiful and comforting. Brook turned slightly and saw Robin.

"Oh, Robin-san, good evening", he greeted. "I'm sorry I didn't notice you. I didn't know you were still awake."

"No, I don't mind...", Robin said quietly.

"Yo ho ho ho. That's good. I just can't sleep. I want to enjoy every bit of the sun as long as it lasts", Brook said cheerfully, still playing.

Robin smiled a bit and rose from her chair. She walked to where Brook stood and watched the sunset with him. There was silence during which Brook only played his violin and Robin watched the sea, lost in her thoughts.

"If I may ask...", Brook began carefully after a while, breaking the silence. "Did you have a specific reason for being up this late?"

Robin couldn't say anything. It wasn't as if she didn't want to tell Brook. She just couldn't say it. As if all the voices would've come back if she even so much as mentioned it. When Robin didn't answer, Brook sighed.

"I see... Well, I'm not going to force you to tell me, of course", he said calmly. "But I can tell you something in return."

Robin looked at him, slightly curious.

"Always, when I feel insecure on this ship, I remind myself of something; Luffy takes care of all of his crewmates, that's for sure", Brook said, in a tone entirely different from when he goofed around or asked to see girls' panties. "You're safe with Luffy that way."

Robin just stared at him in amazement. She had never thought about it like that. She looked out into the ocean again. She didn't hear any of the voices now. She didn't have to battle with them anymore. She felt like a knot had loosened and opened inside her chest; like some kind of pressure had fallen off. At last, she smiled a true smile.

"Yes", she said and watched as the last ray of sunlight finally went under the horizon. "Safe."

Robin never saw these nightmares again.


	3. Children: CP9

**Children**

Kaku managed to always hold his head high. No matter what happened.

Even if he happened to eat a Devil Fruit that would make him a very square giraffe that no one could look at without bursting into laughter, he managed to hold his head high.

Even if he would lose to a pirate swordsman who only used santouryuu compared to his yontouryuu, he managed to hold his head high.

Even if he had to be a slide for children in order to collect enough money...

...he _had _to hold his head high.

"Gyahahahahaha! Bye then, Kaku! We're going to go see Lucci in the hospital, be a good boy and wait there!"

Kaku fumed with rage. He didn't usually get this angry this easily, but never in his life had he sunken so low either! A terrifyingly huge group of children, even more than there had been in the city, was climbing on top of his head to get on his back and slide down only to return back so they could climb again. Some of them even grabbed him painfully on the ears, but Kaku had to force himself to be quiet. _These are innocent, ordinary citizens _was Kaku's mantra, which he used to keep himself docile, even though he definitely didn't think of these children as innocent anymore. _Attacking them is forbidden. _

"Thank you for letting our kindergarten rent your giraffe for a while", said a young woman to the other members of the CP9 standing on the outer side of the fence. "He was so popular among the children in the city, they absolutely demanded that he come here as well!", she smiled. "He's amazingly tame too!"

This provoked a cheerful reaction from them all, especially Jyabura. "No problem at all, it's always a pleasure to help other people, isn't it, Kaku?", he added, looking at Kaku with an annoyingly victorious expression on his face.

Kaku shifted his gaze on Kumadori, who had to hold his hand against his mouth to prevent himself from laughing. "Yo-... Yoyoiii! We shall be back soon to collect you!", he could just barely say through his fingers.

Blueno in turn had a lazy smile on his lips, which was almost the same as if he had laughed hysterically. Fukuro looked just like he was going to tell half the world about this. Kalifa's eyes couldn't be seen under the glasses, but Kaku could clearly see that she was trying to hold back laughter. Kaku was immensely thankful Lucci wasn't present; he was so sure that even Lucci, whose face was usually completely emotionless, would've worn a predatory grin, and that was something Kaku would definitely not have been able to take.

He fixed a murderous stare on all of them that was supposed to say: _You will all pay for this. _

Still laughing, Jyabura motioned the others to come with him. "Let's go! They said Lucci's just woken up and he's not the patient type, like you very well know..."

_And make sure to come back at the speed of lightning, you bastards!_

Yes. It was a well known fact that Kaku managed to always hold his head high. No matter what happened.


	4. Flower: RobinxFranky

**Flower**

Franky had never thought much about flowers. Sure, they were pretty and all, but he had never seen why exactly people were so fascinated by them. They were just plants, nothing else. Beautiful plants, no doubt, but still.

He looked to the other side of the deck, where Robin sat and entertained the others with her Devil Fruit ability to pass time. Luffy and Usopp rolled on the grass and laughed their heads off as Robin's extra hands tickled them, and Nami looked on from the sidelines, shaking her head.

Franky watched as a small but genuine smile spread across Robin's face and the setting sun made her hair shine a deep purple color.

Franky sighed.

_There_ was one flower that fascinated him tremendously.


	5. Overtime: IceburgxPaulie

**Overtime**

The sun was starting to set. Iceburg guessed that most of the workers had gone home right about now. He decided to go and check the first dock just to be sure. For some reason he had a feeling that he should go there.

When he reached the place, he heard, much to his surprise, a distant sound of hammering. Who in the world was still working at this hour? Iceburg followed the sound and saw something unexpected.

His recently promoted employee was working at a feverish pace, everything else forgotten, in the middle of a big, empty dock, wearing a very concentrated expression.

Iceburg stepped closer, and that was when Paulie noticed him. He turned to look at Iceburg and smiled in his nervous way, scratching the back of his head. "Oh, Iceburg-san, I-"

"Paulie," Iceburg said in a serious tone. "What are you still doing here? Haven't you noticed that the others have already gone?" He knew that the man was sometimes a little too into his job and didn't usually notice anything else during those times.

"Yeah, I know. But I stayed to work overtime," Paulie replied, turned his back on Iceburg and picked his hammer up again.

Iceburg sighed. "Why? I know that we built the Straw hats' ship until late night, but that was an exception. You don't have to do so with everyday things, no matter how much you would feel it's your responsibility."

Paulie lowered his hammer in a defeated way. "...I'm not doing it for that," he muttered after a while.

"So why?" Iceburg asked once again. Paulie didn't answer. There was silence, in which Iceburg looked down at Paulie with a puzzled expression, and then Paulie began hammering again.

Iceburg couldn't do anything but sigh the second time. Sometimes he didn't understand Paulie at all. He could be annoyingly stubborn when he wanted. It was one of the worse things about him. Iceburg turned and started walking away. "Come by my office later, Paulie," he said wearily.

* * *

><p>A moment later a nervous Paulie stood in Iceburg's office. His hands were tightened into fists, and Iceburg was sure that if Paulie had had a hat, he would've twisted it into bits in his hands right that moment. What Iceburg also couldn't help noticing was how stiff Paulie seemed.<p>

"Nmaa... Now would you tell me the reason you were so late at work today?" Iceburg asked as gently as he could manage.

Paulie shifted from foot to foot and licked his lips. "Well, you see... There's this one thing I want to do...," he said slowly.

"And that thing is?"

"Well...," Paulie managed to say but couldn't think of anything else and trailed away. Iceburg saw how his face started to turn red.

Iceburg turned to look out the window, where the sun was setting under the horizon and made the office glow in orange light. "I think this is about something entirely different than work, Paulie," he said.

Paulie looked startled. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean," Iceburg said and turned back to face Paulie, "is that I've known you long enough to know when you're not behaving like you normally do. In fact, you've been acting a little weird ever since that Enies Lobby incident. You didn't even want to be promoted to vice-president at first."

Paulie avoided Iceburg's gaze as well as he could, his face completely red. It seemed like he was embarrassed.

"Paulie." It wasn't an order, more like a plea.

Paulie closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Remember when you said I didn't have to do anything just because of responsibility?" he began. Iceburg nodded slowly. "I said I wasn't doing it because of that. I lied. I had a very big responsibility resting on my shoulders."

"Had?"

"Yes. At that time, _that _day,when you were shot, I didn't know what to do with myself. I was just unbelievably _angry_. I swore I'd catch the culprits with my own hands, no matter what. I didn't succeed. I didn't even realize who the real culprits were. They were right under my nose and I didn't notice! I've never forgiven myself of the fact that I couldn't protect you!" Paulie couldn't look at Iceburg in the eye, instead, he was staring at the floor. "Straw hat did take care of Lucci, but I still haven't been able to forget about it. That's why I decided I'd do anything, stay overtime, do extra things no one else would do, even die for you if it's necessary to make it all up!" Paulie had now lifted his gaze and was looking at Iceburg straight in the eyes. "I've failed you!"

What followed was a deep silence. Iceburg looked at Paulie calmly from the other side of the room. Then he walked slowly to him and, suddenly, slapped him on the cheek, _hard_. Paulie didn't have time to react in any way before Iceburg started to speak.

"Idiot!" he said harshly. "How stupid can you be? How did you think I'm going to blame you for that incident? You, nor anyone else, could have possibly known that the criminals were among us! No one should be blamed for that! You, Lulu and Tilestone went to Enies Lobby to fight all on your own! Do you have any idea how worried I was? All the people I loved were there! Franky, old Kokoro... and you." Iceburg's voice became gentler as he grabbed tightly on Paulie's shoulders. "And I don't want you to do any overtime work just because of me. You're the last person who needs to do anything like that. I appreciate everything you've already done. Why did you think that I promoted you in the first place?"

Paulie just stared at Iceburg in shock, and even though his hand was still on his right cheek, he didn't feel any pain. Iceburg looked back at Paulie, hands still on his shoulders. Then, without any warning, Iceburg leaned forward a bit and kissed Paulie lightly but lovingly on his forehead. It lasted only two seconds, but Paulie felt like it lasted an hour.

"Maa... I've still got paperwork to finish, so you just go home and get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow's another busy day."

Paulie woke from his trance and noticed that Iceburg was already walking back to his table. "Oh... allright," he said, abashed.

"Make sure to come in time," Iceburg reminded him.

Paulie finally grinned. He opened the office door, and after saying "yeah, I'll make sure to come" he closed the door after him.

A final sound was heard through the door: "I'll come and stay overtime for you again!"

"Paulie!"


	6. Haunted: Foxy Pirates

**Haunted**

Nights aboard the Sexy Foxy were usually dead silent. But not tonight. A strange banging and wailing had kept the crew and its captain awake already for a good twenty minutes, and no one really knew what was causing it. Most of the crew had already escaped into Foxy's room, where they were currently holding a meeting under some giant, makeshift bedsheet.

"It's like this," Foxy said as a candle was illuminating his face. "We'll wait for several more minutes. If it has stopped by then, you will all leave for good so that I can go back to sleep."

"Po poh... What if it's not?" Hamburg asked, pretending he wasn't scared at all.

"Well, then we will certainly go and finish this 'ghost'," replied Foxy, gritting his teeth. He really was sleepy as hell, but in reality, he too was a bit bothered by this whole situation.

The whole crew looked at him in admiration. "Really? Wow, how brave!"

"Tha-that's right!" Foxy declared, straightened up and crossed his arms. "Foxy the Silver Fox can't be afraid of one measly spirit!"

"Boss, sorry I'm interrupting, but...," Capote said suddenly, "don't you think it's a bit too quiet in here?"

Everyone stopped talking and were completely silent. After a moment of listening they realized that except for the sound of waves outside there was no sound whatsoever, not even muffled. They relaxed visibly and looked at each other with relieved expressions.

"Well, there you see," Foxy said confidently. "Show's over. Now go back to sleep, shoo," he added, motioning with his hands for them to leave.

Members of Foxy pirates started to come out from under the sheet, many were talking to their friends in a relieved voice. "I knew the sound would stop sooner or later!" and "It was only a good thing it stopped, otherwise it would have felt Boss's wrath!"

Big Pan, who had been waiting nervously out on the dark deck, finally smiled when the door of Foxy's room opened and the first members stepped out, but then, suddenly, to everyone's horror, the wailing and banging started again. It made every pirate who had made it outside run back under Foxy's sheet in the blink of an eye.

"W-w-what? Did it start again?" Foxy asked, now in clear panic.

His crew just nodded vigorously back, shivering.

"W-what are we going to do now, Boss?" Pickles asked, looking worried.

"Poh poh... moron. Now he's going to go finish up that ghost," Hamburg stated smiling lazily and very satisfied in himself.

"E-eh?" Foxy's eyes almost popped out from his head. He put his hands up in defense. "Listen, it was just a joke... I didn't really..." But now every single one of his crew was looking at him expectantly, their eyes shining. Deciding he just simply couldn't betray them, Foxy gave up and stood. "Very well then... Let's go find out where the sound comes from and show it what we Foxy pirates are made of!" he said in a declamatory voice as the crew cheered.

After a moment the pirates were gathered into a tight group on the deck, Big Pan included. Group leader Foxy was holding a candle that he was constantly about to drop because he was trembling so much.

"A-all right, let's go," he said more to himself than to anyone else. _Hmm? _he thought. _Now that I'm here on the deck I can hear the sound better... _"Hey," he said to the others, "doesn't it sound like it's coming from Porche's room?"

"Oh, you're right," Capote noted. "But why?"

"Maybe the ghost's controlling her...," Pickles said gulping. Hamburg laughed and earned a hard stab on the side from Pickles.

"Bah! Don't talk nonsense, Pickles!" Foxy scolded. "Let's just move forward."

When they had reached Porche's room, they could clearly hear how the sound, or more specifically, a ghastly moaning and furious banging, came right from the other side of the door.

"O... okay, Boss!" Capote encouraged. "Open the door!"

"Uh... on second thought, could we leave this here? We can continue tomorrow," Foxy stuttered and tried to escape, but his crew caught a hold of him and pushed him back right in front of the door.

"Just do it, Boss!" was heard from the crowd. "Don't worry, we believe in you!"

"You guys...," Foxy sighed, defeated. Then, slowly, he lifted his hand and placed it on the door knob. Everyone gasped. Then, just as slowly, he started to press it down. Everyone held their breaths as Foxy threw the door open with one push. What they saw made them utterly terrified.

Porche was on her knees on her bed, banging the wall with her fists and crying like a fountain. "Choppyyy! Oh Choppyyy! Where in the world are you? I miss you!" she sobbed.

"Po... Por...che...?" Foxy asked, completely puzzled.

Porche stopped crying, turned to look at the doorway and saw them. In that instant she had already rushed to Foxy's side and grabbed him by his chest, which made all the others behind Foxy jump and back away. "Boss, oh Boss!" she cried. "I have got to have Choppy right now! I can't live without him! Do you remember how cute and lovely he was? How furry and fluffy and small and round? And the horns! Oh, the horns! He was so cute, Boss! How _could _you let him go? Now I feel so lonely all the time that I'm even seeing hallucinations of Choppy! Look, there he goes now!" She was pointing at a trash can.

Even though the other members were relieved that there was no ghost after all, just a crazy Porche haunted by Tony Tony Chopper, and even laughed, Foxy wasn't pleased. "So it was all just about this?" he raged and almost threw the candle he was holding on the floor. This was why he had been so scared? This was why he had had to act brave in front of his crew? He wouldn't even have had to act brave if he would've known what was coming! All this just because of some stupid talking reindeer! Of course he had been quite adorable in Foxy's opinion too, but this was downright exaggerating already. "Well you could've at least come talk to me if you felt lonely! I'm your captain, after all!"

Porche let go of Foxy's clothes and pouted. "You obviously aren't cute enough."

A dark cloud was gathering on top of Foxy. He flopped on to the floor on all fours, filled with desolation. "Not... cute... _obviously..._"

Then the other Foxy pirates said good night to Porche as they began dragging their depressed captain back into his room.


End file.
